The number of Greek Letter Societies has increased and multiplied to such an extent during recent years, especially in the colleges of the West and South that considerable ingenuity is required to devise new combinations of the Greek Alphabet. The oldest organization which comes under the head of Greek Letter Societies is the venerable Phi Beta Kappa which was established at William and Mary College on Decemper 5, 1776. It is believed that Thomas Jefferson was one of its founders. The original chapter as well as the college itself is now defunct. Twenty-two chapters are now in existence, in the order of their establishment, at Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth, Union, Bowdoin, Brown, Trinity, Wesleyan, Adelbert, Vermont, Amherst, University of the City of New York, Kenyon, Williams College, City of New York, Middlebury, Columbia, Rutgers, Hamilton, Hobart, Madison, Cornell.

Phi Beta Kappa had long ceased to be a secret society before 1825, the date of the organization of modern societies, and had become, as now, an honorary literary society to which are elected the honor men of each senior class.

The following list gives the names of the ten oldest and most influential societies with the date of organization and the name of the college whence each derived its origin. They are situated for the most part in the eastern states. D. K. E. has the largest membership with Psi U. and Alpha Delta Phi closely following:

Kappa Alpha, 1825, Union; Sigma Phi, 1827, Union; Delta Phi, 1827, Union; Alpha Delta Phi, 1832, Hamilton; Psi Upsilon, 1833, Union; Chi Psi, 1841, Union; Delta Kappa Epsilon, 1844, Yale; Delta Psi, 1847, Columbia; Zeta Psi, 1847, N. Y. University; Theta Delta Chi, 1847, Union.